Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
by Isabel Wilkerson
16 jurisdictions · Banned 2021-2025 · Published
Caste is Isabel Wilkerson's 2020 study comparing American racial hierarchy to caste systems in India and Nazi Germany, banned or restricted in 16+ U.S. jurisdictions.
Why it was banned
The book has been challenged in Florida and Texas under state legislation against "divisive content." Cited reasoning often objects to the book's comparison of American racial structure to other caste systems. The book was a 2020 Oprah's Book Club selection, which kept it on bestseller lists for over a year.
Cited reasons
- divisive content claim
- anti-American framing claim
Primary states
Florida, Texas, South Carolina
Why it matters
Wilkerson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her journalism, frames American racial hierarchy in comparative terms that move beyond familiar American vocabulary. The 2023 film adaptation Origin directed by Ava DuVernay brought the book to wider audiences. Wilkerson's earlier book The Warmth of Other Suns is one of the defining works of nonfiction on the Great Migration.
Themes
- caste
- American hierarchy
- comparative history
Awards
- National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
Where to buy
The Ledger recommends Black-owned booksellers. Each stocks this title or can order it.
- MahoganyBooksNational Harbor, Maryland · Founded
Independent bookstore specializing in books written for, by, and about people of the African diaspora.
- Marcus BooksOakland, California · Founded
The oldest independent Black-owned bookstore in the United States, named for political activist Marcus Garvey.
- Semicolon Bookstore and GalleryChicago, Illinois · Founded
Chicago's only Black woman-owned independent bookstore, with a mission to raise literacy rates among Chicago Public School students.
- Uncle Bobbie's Coffee and BooksPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania · Founded
Coffee shop and bookstore in Germantown, Philadelphia, named for the founder's uncle.
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Documented by The Ledger. A record of what Black America built and what was taken.
Book cover via Open Library. Editorial use under fair use.